Crude oil tank fire

See these two articles on the crude oil tank fire at a refinery in Visakhapatnam:

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/andhra-pradesh/crude-oil-tank-at-hpcl-catches-fire/article19387905.ece

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-andhrapradesh/fire-at-hpcl-plant-raises-safety-questions/article19424518.ece

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Commissioning incident

During a plant commissioning, a line with a control valve fixed in it had to be hydrotested. For this the control valve had to be kept fully open.The commissioning team decided to force open the control valve by directly connecting a tubing from the air header to the actuator. After some time, the actuator cover blew off. later it was discovered that the actuator casing was not designed for the direct air pressure. Are you having strict controls over your hydrotesting procedures? Are these procedures reviewed as seriously as a start up SOP?

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Are you checking the integrity of your valves?

An incident where the gland packing of a valve blew out due to a defect, causing a fire, has highlighted the need for inspection test and maintenance plans for critical services. Is it covered in your Asset Integrity program? 

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Process Safety Management for storage facilities

https://www.osha.gov/Publications/OSHA3909.pdf

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Process Safety Management for small businesses

https://www.osha.gov/Publications/OSHA3908.pdf

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Do you manage changes to control systems properly?

Changes to a control system and rapid speed changes made by an operator led a Texas mother and her two young girls to be thrown about 25 feet off a ski chair lift in December 2016, state investigators said in a final report on the incident.
Do you recognize and manage changes to control systems?


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Fatal incident stresses importance of eliminating human error on pigging operations

Fatal incident stresses importance of eliminating human error on pigging operations

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Pneumatic tools can overpressure

 An incident has been reported where a pneumatic tool exploded causing an injury when it was connected to a service air utility point. The tool was of old design and could withstand a maximum of 90 psi. However the air pressure used was 115 psi. Make sure your maximum service air pressure is always lesser than the maximum pressure allowed for the pneumatic tools.

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Process-safety case studies – catastrophic failures of heat exchangers

Process-safety case studies – catastrophic failures of heat exchangers

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Accident Investigation Board determines maintenance error damaged JSTA

Accident Investigation Board determines maintenance error damaged JSTA: Drain holes in the radome of an E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS) aircraft were left covered after depot maintenance, allowing water to accumulate and damage some of the electrical components.


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Human error in aviation

An incident involving a passenger jet flying over Europe was due to human error. The pilots of the jet while crossing countries failed to establish contact with the next Air Traffic Controller as they were entering the wrong radio frequency. Both the pilots missed the error. The result was that air force jets were scrambled to escort the passenger jet, as per emergency protocol. Finally the pilots managed to contact the ATC in emergency frequency and the situation was controlled.
Think about it....highly trained pilots making a mistake....


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